Maxime Daigneault was selected by Washington Capitals in the second round (#59 overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He is a is a big, aggressive goalie who plays at the top of his crease and likes to challenge the shooter. He is known to play his angles well and is always square to the shooter. Daigneault anticipates the play well and is very effective in traffic. He has quick lateral movement and is very strong in his stance.[1]

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Maxime Daigneault became a goalie at age six. His decision was influenced by his father (who played goal) and because he liked the equipment, especially the decorated masks.[2] By the time he was 15 he had begun to attract media attention, and in 2000 (at the age of 16) Daigneault became the first goalie ever to be the number one draft choice in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) draft.

His rookie year in the QMJHL went very well. He became the starting goaltender for the Val-d'Or Foreurs, appearing in 28 games and posting a 3.55 goals-against average. The Foreurs successfully advanced to the 2001 Memorial Cup final, and although they lost their final game, Daigneault was named the top goaltender of the tournament. Over the next two seasons in the QMJHL Daigneault continued to showcase his strong play by posting five shutouts and lowering his goals against average.

On 20 June 2002, Daigneault and his family were in attendance at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto when he heard his name announced as the 59th selection in the NHL’s 2002 amateur draft.[3] Chosen by the Washington Capitals, Daigneault attended the Washington training camp in the fall of 2002, but returned to Val-d'Or for his final two seasons of eligibility in the junior league.

Daigneault signed with the Capitals in the fall of 2004, and started the season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Portland Pirates. He played in 11 AHL games before being sent to the ECHL to play with the South Carolina Stingrays. On December 30, 2004 Daigneault received the call up to the Washington Capitals that he had been waiting for. He dressed for two NHL games as the backup goaltender (one against the Philadelphia Flyers and the other against the Atlanta Thrashers) but did not get the opportunity to play before being returned to the Stingrays on 2 January 2005. Later Daigneault told sports writer Jon C. Scott of the experience saying that he would have loved to have played in an NHL game for “even on minute” but that even “just being there was a dream come true.”[4]

Daigneault stayed with the South Carolina Stingrays for the majority of the 2005-06 season, but he also saw three games in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. He went on to play with the Hershey Bears for all of the 2006–07 AHL season.